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Buy Safely On Ebay
Buying Safely (and painlessly) On eBay Having just read one account of a buyer’s first and awful experience of buying on ebay there are a few bits of advice I would like to pass on having both bought and sold there for several years. On eBay you can find some the very best customer focussed sellers and some of the worst conmen. A few simple checks will make your eBay’ing a safer experience. 1. Know your seller Scrutinise their past trading record. Look for neutrals and negatives and more importantly the follow up comments (if any), these give you a good indicator as to the kind of person they are and how they deal with things when they go wrong. Checking for neutrals and negatives is easier than it may appear.
Step one: click on the sellers ID on the right hand side of the listing. This will take you to the sellers ‘my world’ page.
Step Two: See the scrolling feedback box? Click ‘see all’, this will take you to the traditional feedback page
Step Three: On the left you have a box called ‘recent feedback ratings’ Do you see any neutrals or negatives indicated in the last 12 months? Yes? Ok, click the number in either the neutral or negative row; this will isolate just the ones you’re looking for. No need to scroll through endless pages to find one or two feedbacks. 2. If your happy with your sellers reputation If you’re not happy with your seller’s reputation in step one, don’t go any further, and find another seller or source.
If you are happy, scrutinise the listing and ask yourself..
• Does it have a photo of the item for sale? Many sellers especially business sellers use a ‘stock photo’ usually ripped from the manufacturer’s website.
[In my opinion this is sloppy practice and indicates a lazy seller. Never buy anything second-hand especially from ebay unless you have seen at least a picture of the actual item for sale. Sellers justify this practice with excuses like “we have too much stock to photograph every item separately” and “I don’t have a camera” DON’T BE FOOLED! It provides many get out clauses for them if you need to complain afterwards.] • Has the seller written his own description or copied and pasted from a manufacturers website? [Always look for an original description from your seller. To copy and paste a complete description from another’s website is again both sloppy and lazy, not mention illegal. If your seller has copied and pasted product specs and written his own description I would personally have no problem with that] • Does the seller’s description tell you about the items present physical condition? Scratches, dents and scuffs are important and will influence how much you bid. • Do you know the value of the item? If the answer is NO, a few minutes searching on the internet could save you money. Not everything on ebay is a bargain! • Look at the P&P (S&H) costs! This is important for two reasons apart from the fact you have to pay it.. (i) Unless you have been an ebay seller you will be unaware that sellers do not pay ebay fees on the P&P price. Therefore many sellers cut the actual item price and load the P&P cost. This is a good indicator not only of your seller’s honesty but also of his business scruples.
(ii) Under certain circumstances if you were to need a refund, not all sellers refund postage costs, therefore if you have paid $0.99 and $100.00 postage, guess what you will get back? $0.99! 3. Never assume anything! Ever! Having got this far you will no doubt have questions about your intended purchase. The next thing is ASK the questions, don’t ever assume anything. eBay’s history is littered with people who have bought items they regretted because they assumed something. Use the email seller link just below their seller ID and ask, if you don’t get a response DO NOT BID! Not just because they didn’t answer the question but because it’s a good indicator of the response your emails will get in the event of something going wrong later in the transaction. 4. Assuming you win the auction, time to pay.. The only form of payment that is protected on ebay is PAYPAL. I never use anything else on ebay.
If you follow these simple tips your chances of being conned are significantly reduced.
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Contributor's Note
This is a ebay seller/buyers advice only.
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